And when the next bridge collapses the same Congresspeople who voted against investing in infrastructure in the name of pandering to a guy wearing 58-inch-waist pantaloons and piloting a SSI-paid Hoverrround festooned with Gadsden flags will hold endless press conferences and vigils demanding "something be done"...before voting "no" on the next highway funding bill.

If the Interstate Highway System didn't exist and were proposed today the bill wouldn't make it out of a House Subcommittee.

Look, it was only a matter of time before Road Warrior became reality, this just bumped it forward by a few years. I recommend a very fast motorcycle, armbands that shoot tiny arrows, and assless chaps.

This doesn't surprise me at all. All our infrastructure is disintegrating. Every time it rains, my power goes out for at least one second minimum. Bigger the storm, the longer it stays out. I don't bother setting my clocks anymore.

Are you sure? They just spent a lot of time and money tearing up sidewalks and buying new WiFi enabled buses for my city with highway funds. Seems odd to me that they'd spend hundreds of thousands of dollars tearing up sidewalks that were in good shape if they were running low on cash.

Mr. Coffee Nerves:And when the next bridge collapses the same Congresspeople who voted against investing in infrastructure in the name of pandering to a guy wearing 58-inch-waist pantaloons and piloting a SSI-paid Hoverrround festooned with Gadsden flags will hold endless press conferences and vigils demanding "something be done"...before voting "no" on the next highway funding bill.

If the Interstate Highway System didn't exist and were proposed today the bill wouldn't make it out of a House Subcommittee.

Do NOT besmirch the name of Strategic Simulations, Inc. unlike the GOP-led House, they actually produced something.

This is just another example of lazy children not earning their keep and of an inept educational system. They can fundraise, they can harvest materials, they can do maintenance, but do they? Noo-oooo. "Look at me I'm little Bobby, I'm 7 and I don't do jack sht." Bastards.

FourDirections:Look, it was only a matter of time before Road Warrior became reality, this just bumped it forward by a few years. I recommend a very fast motorcycle, armbands that shoot tiny arrows, and assless chaps.

Change gas taxes. Make them dependent on mileage traveled and on vehicle weight. Make fines on odometer tampering and weight fraud massive. Increase as necessary to keep the trust funded 100%. Watch people start demanding more transit and sustainable commute options. Then, slow road construction, focus on repairs and enhancements, and call it a win.

Just as with parking, Americans have lived too long with heavily subsidized driving expenses and have literally built their living environment around it. Well, such subsidies aren't fiscally let alone ecologically sustainable.

Don't bail out the trust fund. Make those who damage the roads pay for it.

Oh, the per-gallon tax should stay as well. This would become a sin tax that gives intrinsic incentive to buy more fuel efficient vehicles. The funds from this tax should go to facilitating sustainable walkabity improvements, bicycle improvements, and the expansion of transit.

dustman81:Mr. Coffee Nerves: If the Interstate Highway System didn't exist and were proposed today the bill wouldn't make it out of a House Subcommittee.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower would be called a RINO and a socialist for even proposing the Interstate Highway System if he would have proposed it today.

Could you imagine the screeching of the environmentalists if the interstate highway system were proposed today? Minority advocates would explode with hate when the maps start showing interstates through urban neighborhoods.

Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) proposed a 12-cent gas-tax hike last month, which would raise $164 billion; the bill would be coupled with corporate tax breaks to offset the tax increase

How do corporate tax breaks offset the increase? I'm not a corporation. I'm not offset by this.

The Federal Highway Administration has a useful role in keeping standards sort of similar across states, but they could do that with a tiny fraction of the staff. I heard one of the New Hampshire DOT engineers talking about FHWA getting on his case because the red dots on the new symbolic school bus stop sign were out of place. States were given a new rule on short notice and not provided proper drawings.

The federal DOT should keep making sure that (for example) I-90 is close to a set of design standards for Interstate highways, the potholes won't swallow anything larger than a Smart, and there isn't too much corruption in the federally funded widening contract.

RareChimer:Change gas taxes. Make them dependent on mileage traveled and on vehicle weight. Make fines on odometer tampering and weight fraud massive. Increase as necessary to keep the trust funded 100%. Watch people start demanding more transit and sustainable commute options. Then, slow road construction, focus on repairs and enhancements, and call it a win.

Just as with parking, Americans have lived too long with heavily subsidized driving expenses and have literally built their living environment around it. Well, such subsidies aren't fiscally let alone ecologically sustainable.

Don't bail out the trust fund. Make those who damage the roads pay for it.

Oh, the per-gallon tax should stay as well. This would become a sin tax that gives intrinsic incentive to buy more fuel efficient vehicles. The funds from this tax should go to facilitating sustainable walkabity improvements, bicycle improvements, and the expansion of transit.

It doesn't matter how they tax, if they charge by miles and weight, everything you buy (that travels on trucks... So, everything) will get more expensive and you'll pay for it that way.

They won't look to go to rail or whatever until after price of goods have gone up, and they want to increase margins.

bhcompy:Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) proposed a 12-cent gas-tax hike last month, which would raise $164 billion; the bill would be coupled with corporate tax breaks to offset the tax increase

How do corporate tax breaks offset the increase? I'm not a corporation. I'm not offset by this.

I think the idea is to be revenue neutral so it doesn't feel like a money grab.

But there's a much easier way to solve the same problem, if it is a problem: transfer $164 billion from the general fund to the highway fund. No constitutional principle says general funds can't be spent on roads. Call it an "investment" in transportation and the president's followers will dutifully support it. They can't resist the word investment.

Mr. Coffee Nerves:And when the next bridge collapses the same Congresspeople who voted against investing in infrastructure in the name of pandering to a guy wearing 58-inch-waist pantaloons and piloting a SSI-paid Hoverrround festooned with Gadsden flags will hold endless press conferences and vigils demanding "something be done"...before voting "no" on the next highway funding bill.

If the Interstate Highway System didn't exist and were proposed today the bill wouldn't make it out of a House Subcommittee.

Funny thing is that 'patriots' like this live in areas that absolutely rely on a functioning highway system. How much mass transit is available in Bumfark, Arizona? I'm all for eliminating every penny of federal highway money. In a few years, after the asphalt has disintegrated and the bridges collapsed, the 'patriots' will be isolated out in the middle of nowhere and the rest of us may finally get some peace and quiet.